Two reasons for what might be
considered as an 'extra' Post today, (1) as we had such an exciting and
rewarding Saturday night and Sunday in the field and (2) tomorrow is
going to be another very busy and equally exciting day for me so no
possibility of a Post then! I met up with my friend Dave Foot late on
Saturday afternoon, his third visit, and together we visited Parley
Court Farm spending the remaining daylight hours preparing Moth Traps. 5
were deployed around the Farmstead while a further 3 were active all
night at the virtually 'untapped' north end of the property. Great
expectations were held of the later as being bound on the southern side
by Merritown Heath while elsewhere there is plenty of deciduous
woodland, including Aspen, small stands of Pine, grassland and the
nearby Moors River. The results were staggering as the accompanying
images show! 05:00 Sunday morning I turned my attentions to the traps at
the mainly because the 'timers' have died on me and the lamps needed
turning off. Without even opening any of them (we had agreed to do each
together) the first Moth, something of a scarcity usually confined to
heathland, was found clinging to a stem.
SMALL GRASS EMERALD
was likely blown from the north by the gentle breeze and was a personal
'first sighting' ever for me. If that were not enough of a Great Start
its bigger cousin was perched close by for comparison.
LARGE EMERALD with SMALL GRASS EMERALD
Dave seemed staggered at this find and the circumstance and remarked
that it could be the start of a bumper haul?
There
were a good number of Insects on the white sheet placed under the first
of the traps and withing the first couple of minutes he had identified a
POPLAR LUTESTRING
an addition to his own extensive list. Not only that it also completed
the full 'set' of British Lutestrings for Dave.
With
2 new species for the property already secured in the first 10 minutes
things were going extremely well but that was far from the end of it.
OAK HOOK-TIP
PLAIN WAVE
DARK UMBER
PURPLE-BORDERED GOLD
DOTTED BORDERED WAVE
(likely winner of the Moth of the Day award),
SMALL YELLOW WAVE
RIVULET
and
HORSE CHESTNUT
were all added to the Property List in quick succession as were a
Trio of Pugs
DENTATED PUG
NARROW-WINGED PUG
and
WORMWOOD PUG
as if to start a list for the slightly unusual an early emerged
CANARY-SHOULDERED THORN
was pulled from a trap.
Both
ENGRAILED
and
OAK NYCTEOLINE
have been recorded here before, but not this year, while the
common and long overdue
MOTTLED BEAUTY
was another welcome addition to the List.
The 'TICKS' just simply kept coming with
LOBSTER MOTH
MARSH-OBLIQUE-BARRED
the very unusual
WAVED BLACK
who's Larvae feed on plant Fungus
SMALL PURPLE-BARRED
DARK TUSSOCK
DARK SPECTACLE
all being new for the Farm
while
BROWN RUSTIC
was appearing for the first time in 2014.
From here all Moths marked * were new for the Property such as
SMALL RUFOUS*
SLENDER BRINDLE*
SUSPECTED*
DOUBLE KIDNEY*
BEAUTIFUL YELLOW UNDERWING
is included due to its beautiful appearance,
STRIPED WAINSCOT*
and
LESSER BROAD-BORDERED YELLOW UNDERWING
because I like them!
As so many Micros were caught throughout the day it was thought
best to add a few as a finale.
HONEYSUCKLE MOTH
LESSER WAX MOTH
ORTHOTELIA SPARGANELLA
and last but not least
an as yet unidentified
LARVAE
was found on
BELL HEATHER
Dave
is threatening to travel East again this coming week-end and if he does
I just hope my nerves can stand it - I'll be brave! Once again I would
like to thank him for passing on a lot more of his knowledge, coaxing me
up yet another rung of the Ladder of Learning!
Statistics:-
All of today's images came from the North End of the Property where an uncounted number of Moths were caught to 147 species.
At
the Farmstead 398 Macros accounted for 78 Species along with lots of
Micros, a few Beetle, Ladybirds, Grasshoppers, a Spider and even a large
Garden Snail.
22 of the Macros were additions to the Property List, with an additional 6 being Year Ticks.
22 of the Macros were additions to the Property List, with an additional 6 being Year Ticks.
DIDN'T WE DO WELL!
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